Hoof Game
by MunchMcButtFace
Summary: Hiruma unexpectedly shows up on Kid's doorstep, looking to buy a horse. Kid mentions Mamori, Hiruma references Musashi, and vague metaphors ensue.


"Well, I won't lie. This is an unexpected visit." Kid regarded his visitor with polite wariness.

The man next to him didn't even bother turning around. "Whatever."

The morning sun was cool and bright over the green-mottled land and the mountains in the distance. In the still air, the sagebrush that lined the path towards the main house was motionless as a scherenschnitte. There was a chill hanging in the air, one that would linger until noon when the buzzards rode the churning thermals into the sky. But for now, the earth had only begun to stir in the autumn morning.

Kid pursed his lips in annoyance. "I'd appreciate a heads-up next time. Even a phone call. Five minute advance warning… Ah… You gave me a scare back there," he said, nodding back at the gate to the ranch.

Hiruma sneered. "Oo, a bit of a jumpy old man, aren't you? Guess everyone's got something they'll always be running away from."

Kid didn't rise to the bait. Instead, he nudged the brim of his hat a bit lower, dipping its shadow further onto his face. "Well, it's been a while, hasn't it?" He hooked his thumbs in his pockets and began sauntering down the red dirt path. "Tetsuma's making coffee back in the kitchen. You should come have a cup- you've obviously come a long way just to see little old me…"

"I'm here to buy a horse."

Kid didn't bother to ask questions. He knew Hiruma on and off the football field, and he knew to slowly ease answers out of the other man, patiently and gently, like untangling a ball of yarn. "What kind? Stock? Show? I don't really have any horses on me right now, but I can keep an eye out for you-"

"Adam Hanson said you had a few Quarter horses worth seeing."

Once again, Kid didn't bother to ask exactly how Hiruma knew one of his more frequent clients. "Ah… Yes… I do… But they're not really ready for-"

"I want to see them."

Kid sighed, figuring it better to avoid clashing Hiruma on such a small matter as peering at some horses. "Sure, I can take you by the stables, maybe you'll see them and give up… We can pop in for coffee after… Do some catching up… Right?"

"Whatever."

Kid led the way over the dirt path with a steady saunter, an ambling gait made for the long way across the shrub-encrusted hills and the sandy river trails of the ranch property. The ranch was large, even for Utah, but most of it was constantly rented out to wealthy vacationers, sportsmen, and production companies- three of the most bothersome types of people in a country full of bothersome folk. So he and Tetsuma stuck to their own designated private areas, and let his boarders be.

Today, they walked along the shortest route possible towards the stables where the Quarter horses were waiting to be turned out. As Hiruma followed, hands in pockets and chin in the air, Kid spoke again. "You know, I received the strangest phone call last month."

"Hmm?" Hiruma idly reached out and plucked the head of a flower as he passed by, a plump nest of petals atop a green, spiky base. The entire plant came uprooted, but he simply snapped off the head and threw the sad, rooty remnants behind him as he went.

"From someone you'd know… Remember your old team manager? Ms. Anezaki?"

Hiruma methodically picked apart the thistle, pulling apart its purple crown. "That old woman? What about her?"

"It seems that she knew that I might see you someday in the future."

To Kid's surprise, Hiruma began laughing again, first low and guttural in his throat, and then breaking into a scratchy sort of yipping. "That's funny! That's really funny!"

Kid remained silent, his face impassive as he patiently waited for Hiruma to stop laughing. A few minutes later, the blonde awkwardly fell silent, his earlier amusement fading into a forced, confused grin. So Kid continued speaking. "She was hoping that I'd tell her if somehow, sometime, you popped up in America…"

"Heh. You gonna sic her on me or something?" Hiruma asked defiantly.

"Well, I was hoping to get your opinion on the matter… This is sort of your business, you know."

"Well, I don't care. Tell her whatever you want." Hiruma cackled, his grating voice shivering across the morning air. Nonetheless, a tinge of guilt hung at the edge of his statement. "She's a greedy idiot. I can't give her what she wants. She shouldn't bother."

"I know… This is why we shouldn't want things in the first place…"

Hiruma shrugged. "No, wanting things is good. Wanting things you know you can't have, that's just stupid." He flicked his fingers, casting the remnants of the thistle head into the dry wind.

Kid paused mid-step. "'Greedy idiot,' eh?"

"Yeah-" Hiruma stopped and started laughing when he realized his slip. "You bastard."

"It's peculiar, isn't that? I know someone who said those exact same words about _you_."

"Leave that fucking old man out of this. Actually, leave _yourself_ out of this-" His long, bony fingers twitched, no doubt itching to reach for that black notebook he always carried around.

Kid raised his hands, as if to show that he was unarmed. "Oi, oi… No need to get heated up about it. I was just commenting on a friend…"

It wasn't something that anyone else would have noticed- no, Kid corrected himself quickly: perhaps someone who had fought Hiruma, on and off the field, someone familiar with his ridiculous cackling and the way his piercings always seemed to catch the light, would have noticed. Perhaps clever Takami would have noted it. And that manager, Ms. Anezaki, probably would have noticed it too. That 'fucking old man,' the sudden topic of their conversation, would definitely have picked up on it: that last sentence where Hiruma's voice came a little too fast, his syllables a little too clipped. Kid's half-closed eyes didn't betray how in his mind, a hundred different pieces, unrelated little things here and there, fused into a sudden, abrupt understanding. _Ah._ But he simply tipped back his hat and shrugged. "Paddock's this way."

The revealing moment vanished as immediately as it came. Hiruma's features settled back into their usual sneer as they approached the fenced-in area.

Juan had turned the horses out earlier that morning. The Mexican man was nowhere to be seen, but four Quarter horses frolicked about in the circular pen, occasionally kicking up a puff of dust from their hard hooves.

"Horses?" Hiruma asked.

"Yup. They're horses," Kid said dryly.

Hiruma fell silent, gazing at the animals enjoying the clear, fresh day. One of the horses, a pretty palomino, trotted up to the men to hang its head over the fence.

"No food," Kid said simply as the horse nickered at him and snuffed around his kerchief for any sign of a treat. Nevertheless, he patted its cheek and scratched its muscled neck idly, stepping back a pace when the horse pushed forward a little too suddenly. The sun slogged upwards in the sky as Kid waited, and Hiruma watched the horses.

Finally, Hiruma pointed at a gray filly swishing its tail at the far end of the paddock. "I want to buy that one."

"Mmhmm…. She's not for sale yet," Kid told him wearily.

"I don't care," Hiruma's long fingers snapped off the head of a yellow wildflower near the paddock. "I want to buy her."

Kid rubbed his temples. "Hiruma…"

"How much?"

Kid sighed. "She's two years old. Tetsuma and Bill are still working on her. Maybe she'll be barely presentable when she's four. Right now, she's just a green little filly, nothing to her name. Just a run-of-the-mill nag…"

"I need a star," Hiruma said simply, crossing his arms.

"What? This little thing? What are you expecting? That's really too much to say about a plain little horse. You'll just be disappointed… Nothing's going to go well with her if you think that."

Hiruma laughed again, startling the palomino. "If she's just an ordinary horse, why don't you sell her?"

Kid went silent before replying. "Eh, well, I'd feel bad about selling Hiruma Yoichi an untrained, untested horse…"

Hiruma's cackle startled all of the horses this time, but only to the extent of a straight neck and a snort from the palomino. "Quit playing dumb. She doesn't look it now, but when she grows up… A mathematically perfect horse. What do you think of that?"

"Ah, ah, stop saying ridiculous things like that…" Kid sighed anxiously. "Nothing's going to turn out well, it's all really up to chance… Besides, she could just as easily grow up to have a horrible personality. She could lack talent. Lack movement. Spook easily… She could very well turn out to be a crap horse."

"Where did you get her?" Hiruma asked casually.

Kid shrugged. "Neighbor's yard sale last year… Excess horses, you know? Maybe just happens that one of them turns out kind of okay…"

"You really have an eye for horses, don't you?"

"Eh… Not really… I'm just kind of average…"

Hiruma cackled. This time, the horses didn't respond with more than a flicked ear. "So, how much for her?"

Kid decided to play along. "Thirty thousand dollars," he said breezily, the ridiculous price rolling off his tongue almost mockingly.

"Okay, I'll pay in cash," Hiruma replied crisply.

Kid chuckled. "Hiruma… I said thirty thousand US dollars. Not yen."

"I know, and I said that I'd pay in cash. Right now, if you want," he said, motioning to his duffel. "I've got a horse trailer ready to go."

Kid took off his hat as he realized that Hiruma was serious. "You can't have thirty thousa-" he began, but remembered who he was talking to and sighed. "Hiruma…"

"How much did you get her for? A thousand, two thousand, tops. Assume it takes five thousand dollars a year to take care of a horse, let's say you've invested six thousand dollars in her right now. Sure, you could train her a bit and then take her to the circuit- get some wins to her name- but by the time you'd get her worth up to sixty-thousand, you've already invested twenty thousand in her, practically. And what if she breaks a leg? What if she keels over dead? What if she cracks under the pressure and runs away from home?"

"You've really done your research," Kid sighed, ignoring the last sentence. "Horses aren't good business… I really don't know what to do with them… I told you, they eat money-"

Hiruma gave him a sharp smile. "Don't play dumb. I know your records. You don't keep a horse more than two years. You buy low and sell high, don't you? Scouring around for little diamonds in the rough, bring them up, sell them nice? And isn't it handy, that you just happen to have Mr. Horse Whisperer on hand?" the blonde laughed, this time low in his throat. "It's… Fun, isn't it?"

Kid didn't reply. Instead, he patted the palomino horse's velvety nose, feeling the animal's warm breath puff against his palm.

"You're a gamer."

"I don't think so…"

"You know what I notice again and again?" Hiruma shoved his hands in his pockets and sneered. "At the core, we're the same kind of person."

If the statement took him by surprise, Kid didn't show it. "If you're serious about buying that horse, you should come with me to the bank this afternoon." He gave the palomino a final scratch before pushing its head away. "But I really caution you otherwise…"

"Fuck your caution. Don't trust my money?" The blonde cackled, but didn't seem offended by Kid's wariness.

"It's not the money I don't trust." Kid gave him a faint, nostalgic smile. "We're driving to town at noon today. Can you wait a few hours until then?"

"Yeah, I'll just catch up on my jetlag until then," Hiruma yawned, and began walking back the way he came. "I want coffee. Is it ready yet?"

"Go ask Tetsuma," Kid replied, following the other man back to the main house. He lifted his face to peer at the boundless blue sky above them, hoping that the morning had already exhausted its supply of the unexpected. But with Hiruma, he never could guess, after all.


End file.
